Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Spokane to Sandpoint: An Ultra Relay

It has arrived: Spokane to Sandpoint! My first ultra relay experience will start in less than 2 days!


December seems like ages ago when Nicole asked me if I wanted to run Spokane to Sandpoint on a female ultra team. Since I can never say “no” to a fun running event, I eagerly said “yes”.  A lot has changed since the first email exchange. Soon after the team was finalized, Nicole found out she was pregnant so Robyn took over the leadership role. Then we lost another couple of runners and were scrambling to find replacements. What started out as team “Awesome Bloggers” has now become “Girls Just Wanna Run”. You can bet that we will blaring some Cyndi Lauper along the way!

Robyn did a great job figuring out how we would divide the legs between the 6 of us. We decided to make our first leg the longest, which I think is a great idea. Out of all the legs I have to run, my first leg makes me the most nervous. Since I am runner #1 I have a brutal descent down Mt. Spokane for the first 5 (ish) miles. The elevation drop is pretty nuts, but I am ready for it. Both my massage stick and foam roller are packed and ready to go!

Of the the 5 other women on the team I have never met 3 of them so I am really looking forward to meeting Rose, Amy & Jordanne tomorrow. The team is rounded out by Kaitlyn who is a colleague and Robyn who is another blogger from the Seattle area. I am really looking forward to hanging out with Robyn this weekend because we have a lot of similarities and she is a kick as* runner. 

Here are my legs that I will be running and the approximate time I will be running them:

Leg #1   5 miles                  Very Hard            7:00 am 

Leg #2   8.11 miles            Very Hard (combined with leg #1)

Leg #16 5.17 miles            Moderate           7:10 pm 

Leg #24 6.65 miles            Moderate           2:01 am 

Leg #30 9.20 miles            Very Hard            9:35 am 

Total miles: 34.13

After about 30 (ish) hours we will have run from the top of Mt. Spokant to Sandpoint, ID

Who wouldn't want a finish line here?! (SOURCE)

Now that all of the logistics are figured out I am ready to run and have some serious fun. I was really conservative on my 10K pace when I signed up and said I would average 8:35 miles. That should be a nice comfy pace for me to run. Hopefully those aren't my famous last words :-)

Be sure to follow me on twitter (@healthy_diva) and instagram (tashamalcolm) #GirlsJustWannaRun

--Tasha


30 comments:

  1. You seem to be doing lots of 'very hard' sections! This sounds like a really fun event though, and hopefully you'll have some beautiful scenery and a great time :)

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    1. I know- I never really look at what the classify the legs until after I commit. Oh well! Sometimes they are just classified very hard because of the distance and sometimes it has to do with whether it is hilly or not.

      The drive from Spokane to Sandpoint is beautiful so I am sure the run will be really scenic. North Idaho is a beautiful area.

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  2. GOOD LUCk!!!! Sounds super fun... and tough!! You'll kill it!! :)

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    1. Thanks Meagan- it was a lot of fun. However my body disagrees with that right now. I am still sore today and it is Tuesday night.

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  3. Whoa, you're a trooper to be doing those legs but you'll kick butt!

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    1. I hope so! I feel so tired this week! I will need to go to bed early and my knees are hurting just thinking about leg #1. EEEEK!

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  4. Wow! This sounds absolutely amazing. I hope you have an awesome time!!

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    1. It was the perfect weekend for running Lora. I had way to much fun. I loved it!

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  5. Good luck! Can't wait to hear about how well you do!

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    1. It was a super fun race Kayla. We won the female ultra division. Pretty cool thing to win!

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  6. I think ultra relays are sooooo badass. I was just crewing for my son's cross country team's relay (200 miles, 15,000' elevation gain) and there were a few ultra teams - one of them incredibly FAST and killing it. I was just drooling with envy. Have a blast out there!!

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    1. Thank you Jill!- Just getting caught up on blogging. This weekend was a lot of fun, but it was also a lot hard than a typical relay. I felt like I had gotten hit by a bus even before my last leg I had to run. We did win the ultra female division so that was pretty cool!

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  7. Have fun Tasha! Crazy legs for you. I know you are going to have a blast. Will be following along as best I can. hugs ~Marnee

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    1. My first leg totally did me in- my poor feet, shins and quads were shot. It didn't matter though because it was still fun. Gosh, does that make me sound like a crazy person?! LOL. :-)

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  8. That's awesome! Have such a great time out there...I'd love to do an ultra relay like that!

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    1. An ultra relay is much different than a regular relay, but just as fun. I was prepared, but I didn't realize exactly how tired I would feel towards the end. It was all worth it though. I had some amazing women as teammates.

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  9. Yay! How exciting! I really want to do an ultra relay in the future. I love the relay experience and an ultra just sounds bad a$$! Your legs do look tough but I know you will rock them! Can't wait to hear how goes. Have fun! P.S. this is Amy - blogger won't let me post this comment.

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    1. Silly blogger! My legs were so freaking tough. UGH. The easiest one was my 2nd leg, but I was thrashed from my first leg that even 5 miles was hard to run. Plus I started to lose at toenail on the first leg and that really started to bother me on my 2nd leg. UGH!!!! My night leg was pretty fast because I got scared in the dark, LOL. :-)

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  10. so pretty! can't wait to hear about your race! good luck, and kick majoy BOOTAY!

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    1. Everyone on my team kicked major bootay. They were awesome women to call teammates and have the opportunity to run with. I am so proud of each of them!

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  11. That sounds like fun. I think I will definitely consider doing a relay. As for your legs (the race ones and your own person legs...) Yikes!
    LOL...
    I have driven from Michigan to Seattle and back about 6 times and I know those mountains. I've been through Spokane and am so excited to hear about the weekend.
    I hope you get a chance to take lots of pictures and get some rest when you can!
    {Hugs!} Run strong!!

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    1. Relays are so much fun. They are hard, but the fun part makes them all worth it. I hope you get a chance to run a relay someday because I think that you would have a lot of fun and enjoy it.

      We took over 1300 pictures between my Nikon and a GoPro that my teammate had. INSANE! :-)

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  12. I have always thought that running a relay race would be fun and a fun way to meet other runners. You're gonna be great! Hope you have a great time!!

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    1. Relays are so much fun. Even running at night is fun. Oddly, most people favor running at night. Hope you get the chance to be on a relay someday. You would really love it!

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    1. Might take me a while to recap. I don't want to leave anything out. The weekend was awesome. So many wonderful women on my team. We were already planning races to run together before we had finished.

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  14. Sounds like one awesome experience! Cannot wait to hear all about it!

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    1. Relays are my new favorite race- they are awesome! :-)

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